TyTy Washington could only watch from the bench at Tennessee after injuring his ankle. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Last summer I was talking to NBA draft analyst Matt Babcock about incoming Kentucky freshman guard TyTy Washington. He told me then he thought Washington was an upgrade over Nolan Hickman, the point guard who signed with Kentucky and then asked out of his commitment after signing with the Wildcats.
Babcock also then he believed the nation’s two best freshman point guards could both be in the Southeastern Conference — Kennedy Chandler of Tennessee and Washington. With about a month left in the regular season, it seems he was right. Evanmiya.com ranks various college basketball categories and currently has Kennedy No. 3 and Washington No. 4 on the nation’s top freshmen.
“There is going to be a legitimate rivalry between these two that should be fun to watch,” Babcock said.
Kentucky had targeted Chandler in recruiting before he picked the Vols and Hickman picked Kentucky. Kentucky then went all-in on Washington, a one-time Creighton commit, and he signed with UK on May 12.
The Vols and Cats have split two games this year.
In Tennessee’s 76-63 win Tuesday, Chandler had 17 points, six assists, and five rebounds in 36 minutes while Washington had four points and three assists in only 12 minutes. Washington had injured his ankle Saturday and many did not expect him to play. He did play but was not nearly at full speed and then hurt his ankle again early in the second half.
When Kentucky beat Tennessee 107-79 about a month earlier, Washington had 28 points on 10-for-13 shooting, five assists, three steals, and two rebounds in 36 minutes while Chandler had 17 points, three assists, three rebounds, and two steals in 30 minutes.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Chandler had improved immensely since the first Kentucky game.
“I mean, TyTy Washington’s a terrific player, he is. He rolled his ankle a couple weeks ago, and I think he rolled it again last game. You could tell, visibly, he was, I mean, trying to gut it up out there and do it, but I think he might have tweaked it again tonight,” Barnes said.
“But we’ve been through it, every team goes through those type situations, and overall, defensively I thought we were so much better getting off their screens. They’re a really good, sound fundamental team in terms of screening and what they do. Just so much better job not giving up separation on some of their actions.”
Washington, Sahvir Wheeler, Kellan Grady, and Davion Mintz combined to score 75 points and made 27 of 36 shots in the win over Tennessee. This time it was Tennessee guards Chandler, Santiago Vescovi, Zakai Zeigler, and Josiah Jordan-James combining for 57 points and bullying the UK guards. The UK guards had just 29 points total in Knoxville, one reason the Cats missed 43 of 67 shots.
“Their guards kicked our guards. It was the other way around, even though (Santiago) Vescovi had a lot at our place. They’re guards kicked us,” Calipari said after Tuesday’s loss — and he was not wrong.
